CN212077175U

CN212077175U - Horizontal electroplating device without upper electrode

Info

Publication number: CN212077175U
Application number: CN202020349607.1U
Authority: CN
Inventors: 邓晓帆; 李中天; 姚宇
Original assignee: Suzhou Taiyangjing New Energy Co ltd
Current assignee: Suzhou Taiyangjing New Energy Co ltd
Priority date: 2020-03-19
Filing date: 2020-03-19
Publication date: 2020-12-04
Anticipated expiration: 2030-03-19

Abstract

The utility model discloses a horizontal electroplating device of no top electrode, electrolyte solution groove of high setting including a plurality of, treat that the electroplating substrate is located electrolyte solution groove upper surface and lower surface and electrolyte solution contact, treat that the electroplating substrate lower surface divide into and treat that electroplating region and non-electroplating are regional, treat that electroplating region surface is conducting material, non-electroplating region surface is non-conducting material, it has horizontal transmission device and negative pole conducting device to treat that electroplating substrate lower surface electricity links to each other, horizontal transmission device and negative pole conducting device and electrolyte solution groove interval set up, horizontal transmission device drives and treats electroplating substrate horizontal motion, be provided with metal anode in the electrolyte solution, negative pole conducting device links to each other with the negative pole and the positive pole of external bias voltage power respectively with metal anode. The utility model provides a pair of no top electrode level electroplates device can form the metal deposition that the homogeneity is good, the reliability is high and be difficult for causing treating electroplate substrate or its surface damage treating electroplate substrate surface.

Description

Horizontal electroplating device without upper electrode

Technical Field

The utility model relates to a horizontal electroplating device without an upper electrode, which belongs to the technical field of solar cells and semiconductors.

Background

Crystalline silicon solar cells typically use metal as an electrode to output charge carriers generated by the cell during operation. Metallization is therefore an important process step in the manufacture of solar cells. The screen printing metal slurry is sintered at high temperature to form a metal electrode, which is the most widely applied crystalline silicon solar cell metallization method at present. The method has simple process and can realize large-scale mass production. In recent years, silicon wafer and battery processes are continuously developed, and the production cost of solar batteries is continuously lowered. The mainstream metallization method at present still uses screen printing silver paste as the front electrode of the solar cell and even the double-sided electrode, wherein the cost generated by the expensive silver paste in the metallization process accounts for an increasing proportion of the whole cell cost.

In order to further reduce the cost of solar cells, the possibility of mass production of metal electrodes of solar cells by electroplating has also been sought. The method can use cheaper metals such as nickel and copper to partially or completely replace silver to realize cost reduction. However, the methods proposed in the prior art, such as rack plating and vertical plating, have the problems of non-uniform metal deposition, low yield, low mass production efficiency, etc. The horizontal electroplating method disclosed in the past is more suitable for being used in mass production, but has the defects of high process control difficulty, poor electroplating uniformity and the like, and the pressure applied by the upper electrode on the battery piece to be electroplated is often difficult to control, so that surface damage or battery damage is easily caused.

SUMMERY OF THE UTILITY MODEL

The to-be-solved technical problem of the utility model is to provide a can be treating that the electroplating substrate surface forms the metal deposition that the homogeneity is good, the reliability is high and be difficult for causing the no upper electrode horizontal electroplating device of treating electroplating substrate or its surface damage.

In order to solve the technical problem, the utility model discloses a technical scheme does:

a top electrode-free horizontal electroplating device comprises a plurality of electrolyte solution tanks which are arranged at equal height, electrolyte solution is contained in the electrolyte solution tanks, a liquid conveying pipeline is communicated below the electrolyte solution tanks, a liquid discharging tank is arranged below the electrolyte solution tanks, a substrate to be electroplated is positioned above the electrolyte solution tanks, the lower surface of the substrate to be electroplated is in contact with the electrolyte solution, the lower surface of the substrate to be electroplated is divided into a region to be electroplated and a non-electroplating region, the surface of the region to be electroplated is made of conductive materials, the surface of the non-electroplating region is made of non-conductive materials, the lower surface of the substrate to be electroplated is electrically connected with a horizontal transmission device and a cathode conduction device, the horizontal transmission device and the cathode conduction device are arranged at intervals with the electrolyte solution tanks, the horizontal transmission device drives the substrate to be electroplated to move horizontally, and a metal anode is arranged in the electrolyte solution, the cathode conducting device and the metal anode are respectively connected with the negative electrode and the positive electrode of an external bias power supply.

The roller is simultaneously used as the horizontal transmission device and the cathode conducting device, and the roller is electrically contacted with the area to be electroplated through the electrolyte solution carried out by the substrate to be electroplated when passing through the electrolyte solution tank.

The roller is simultaneously used as the horizontal transmission device and the cathode conducting device, and a second electrolyte solution tank is arranged below the roller, so that the roller takes out the second electrolyte solution in the second electrolyte solution tank when rolling and is electrically contacted with the area to be electroplated through the second electrolyte solution.

The roller is provided with a plurality of bulges, and the bulges are electrically contacted with the area to be electroplated.

The horizontal transmission device is a conveyor belt.

The cathode conducting device is a conducting brush or a conducting hair roller.

The tail end of the conductive brush, which is contacted with the substrate to be electroplated, is polished or is a U-shaped tail end.

And a spraying device is arranged above the substrate to be electroplated and sprays water to the upper surface of the substrate to be electroplated so as to adjust the contact pressure of the substrate to be electroplated and the cathode conducting device.

The utility model has the advantages that: the utility model provides a pair of no upper electrode level electroplates device treats electroplating substrate lower surface and electrolyte solution contact, it has horizontal transmission device and negative pole electric installation to treat electroplating substrate lower surface electricity to link mutually, at the electrochemical deposition metal in-process, the upper surface of treating electroplating substrate does not contact with electrolyte solution and any solid, consequently the upper surface of electroplating substrate is treated to protection that can be fine, can not cause surface damage or device to damage in electroplating process, avoid forming parallel resistance simultaneously, cause the device short circuit. Furthermore, a plurality of groups of conducting devices are arranged under the same substrate to be electroplated, so that the design of discontinuous main grid lines can be adapted, the uniformity of the electroplated grid lines can be greatly improved, and the stability of the mass production of products is improved.

Drawings

FIG. 1 is a schematic view showing the structure of a horizontal electroplating apparatus without an upper electrode in embodiment 1;

FIG. 2 is a schematic structural view of a horizontal electroplating apparatus without an upper electrode according to embodiment 2;

FIG. 3 is a schematic structural view of a horizontal electroplating apparatus without an upper electrode according to embodiment 3;

FIG. 4 is a schematic structural diagram of a horizontal electroplating apparatus without an upper electrode in embodiment 4.

Detailed Description

The present invention will be further described with reference to the accompanying drawings, and the following embodiments are only used to illustrate the technical solutions of the present invention more clearly, and the protection scope of the present invention is not limited thereby.

Detailed description of the preferred embodiment 1

As shown in figure 1, the utility model discloses a horizontal electroplating device without an upper electrode. Fig. 1(a) is a schematic view of the general structure of the present invention, in the process of electroplating the lower surface of the substrate 110 to be electroplated, the lower surface of the substrate 110 to be electroplated is in contact with the roller 120. In this embodiment, the roller 120 serves as both a horizontal transport device and a cathode conductive device. An electrolyte solution tank 130 containing an electrolyte solution 131 is also provided below the substrate 110 to be plated. The metal anode 140 is immersed in the electrolyte solution 131. The lower part of the electrolyte solution tank 130 is communicated with a liquid conveying pipeline, the liquid conveying pipeline is connected with a liquid pump, the components of the electrolyte solution 131 can be controlled, the inflow speed of the electrolyte solution 131 can be adjusted, the electrolyte solution 131 slowly and upwards gushes out in the electroplating process, and therefore when the substrate 110 to be electroplated horizontally moves through the electrolyte solution tank 130, the electrolyte solution 131 can continuously contact with the lower surface of the substrate 110 to be electroplated. And the gushed electrolyte solution 131 will be collected by the drain tank 170 and circulated or drained through the drain line thereunder. During the electroplating process, the roller 120 is electrically contacted with the area to be electroplated of the substrate 110 to be electroplated through the electrolyte solution 131 carried out by the substrate 110 to be electroplated through the electrolyte solution tank 130. The roller 120 and the metal anode 140 are respectively connected with the negative electrode and the positive electrode of the external bias power supply 180, and a closed loop circulation of the external bias power supply 180, the roller (cathode conducting device) 120, the substrate to be electroplated 110, the electrolyte solution 131, the metal anode 140 and the positive electrode of the external bias power supply 180 is formed in the electroplating process.

Fig. 1(b) is a schematic view of the broken-line frame part in fig. 1(a) being separated. In this embodiment, the substrate 110 to be electroplated is a maingrid-less solar cell. For convenience of illustration, in this figure, the substrate to be plated 110 is shown as being translucent. The lower surface of the substrate is coated with a polymer material (such as photoresist, dry film or other resins commonly used in the semiconductor industry) as a non-conductive material 111 by printing, screen printing, slit coating, spin coating, spray coating, and the like. The non-conductive material 111 is physically or chemically patterned to open on a region to be plated 112 of the substrate to be plated 110 (located on the lower surface of the substrate to be plated 110). In this embodiment, the regions to be plated are only a plurality of continuous strip-shaped sub-gate regions 112 with a width of 10-1000 μm and parallel to each other. The non-conductive material 111 functions to allow deposition of metal on the subgrid regions 112 on the substrate 110 to be plated during plating and to prevent deposition of metal on the non-plated regions, and forms the subgrid electrode only on the lower surface of the substrate 110 to be plated after plating. Before the non-conductive material 111 is disposed, a whole metal seed layer (not shown in the schematic diagram) is further disposed on the lower surface of the substrate 110 to be plated by sputtering, evaporation, or the like as a conductive material. During the electroplating process, the substrate 110 to be electroplated is horizontally moved along the extending direction of the sub-grid region 112 by the roller 120.

In this embodiment, the metal copper is plated on the lower surface of the substrate 110 to be plated in the region 112 to be plated. The metal anode 140 is solid metallic copper and the electrolyte solution 131 may contain one or more acid radicals (e.g., sulfate, nitrate, etc.), plating metal ions (here, copper ions), water, and one or more additives. The electrolyte solution is preferably prepared by dissolving 150.0-250.0 g/L copper sulfate, 45.0-110.0 g/L sulfuric acid, 0.5g/L zinc powder, 1.0-2.0 g/L active carbon and proper amount of brightening additive into water. The plating rate is controlled by applying a bias voltage from an external bias voltage source 180 during the plating process. After the lower surface of the substrate 110 to be electroplated is electroplated, the other surface of the substrate 110 to be electroplated can be electroplated by turning over the substrate.

Specific example 2

As shown in FIG. 2, the utility model discloses a horizontal electroplating device without an upper electrode. Fig. 2(a) is a schematic view of the general structure of the present invention, in the process of electroplating the lower surface of the substrate 210 to be electroplated, the lower surface of the substrate 210 to be electroplated contacts with the roller 220. In this embodiment, the roller 220 serves as both a horizontal transport device and a cathode conductive device. An electrolyte solution tank 230 containing an electrolyte solution 231 is also provided below the substrate 210 to be plated. The metal anode 240 is immersed in the electrolyte solution 231. The lower part of the electrolyte solution tank 230 is communicated with a liquid delivery pipe, and the liquid delivery pipe is connected with a liquid pump, so that the components of the electrolyte solution 231 can be controlled, the inflow speed of the electrolyte solution 231 can be adjusted, the electrolyte solution 231 can slowly flow upwards in the electroplating process, and the electrolyte solution 231 can be ensured to be continuously contacted with the lower surface of the substrate 210 to be electroplated when the substrate 210 to be electroplated horizontally moves through the electrolyte solution tank 230. And the gushed electrolyte solution 231 will be collected by the drain tank 270 and circulated or drained through the drain line thereunder. Above the substrate 210 to be plated, a shower unit 290 is provided to spray water onto the upper surface of the substrate 210 to be plated during the plating process to adjust the contact pressure between the substrate 210 to be plated and the roller (cathode conductive means) 220. A second electrolyte solution tank 250 is also provided below the roller 220 so that the roller 220 takes out the second electrolyte solution 251 in the second electrolyte solution tank 250 while rolling, and makes electrical contact with a region to be plated of the substrate 210 to be plated through the second electrolyte solution 251. The roller 220 and the metal anode 240 are respectively connected with the negative electrode and the positive electrode of the external bias power supply 280, and a closed loop circulation of the external bias power supply 280, the roller (cathode conducting device) 220, the substrate 210 to be electroplated, the electrolyte solution 231, the metal anode 240 and the positive electrode of the external bias power supply 280 is formed in the electroplating process.

Fig. 2(b) is a schematic view of the broken-line frame part in fig. 2(a) being separated. In this embodiment, the substrate 210 to be electroplated is a conventional main gate solar cell. For convenience of illustration, in this figure, the substrate to be plated 210 is shown as being translucent. An inorganic non-conductive film (such as an alumina, silicon oxide, silicon nitride film, etc.) is deposited on the lower surface thereof as the non-conductive material 211 by means of CVD, PVD, ALD, etc. The non-conductive material 211 is physically or chemically patterned to open the to-

be-plated regions

212 and 213 of the to-be-plated substrate 210 (located on the lower surface of the to-be-plated substrate 210). In this embodiment, the regions to be plated 212 and 213 are divided into a main gate region 213 and a sub-gate region 212 which are staggered in length and width. The main grid region 213 is a plurality of continuous strip-shaped regions which are distributed on the battery piece in parallel and have the width of 200-1500 microns, and a main grid line electrode is formed after electroplating and used for converging the current in the auxiliary grid line electrode; the secondary grid region 212 is a plurality of continuous strip-shaped regions which are vertical to the main grid region, are distributed on the battery piece in parallel and have the width of 10-1000 microns, and form secondary grid line electrodes after electroplating, and the secondary grid line electrodes are used for collecting surface and internal currents when the substrate to be electroplated works. Before the non-conductive material 211 is disposed, a full-surface metal seed layer (not shown in the schematic diagram) is further disposed on the lower surface of the substrate 210 to be electroplated as a conductive material by sputtering, evaporation, or the like. During the electroplating process, the substrate 210 to be electroplated is horizontally moved along the extending direction of the main grid region 213 by the roller 220.

In this embodiment, the metal copper is plated on the bottom surface of the substrate 210 to be plated in the

regions

212 and 213 to be plated. The metal anode 240 is solid metallic copper and the electrolyte solution 231 may contain one or more acid radicals (e.g., sulfate, nitrate, etc.), plating metal ions (here, copper ions), water, and one or more additives. The electrolyte solution is preferably prepared by dissolving 150.0-250.0 g/L copper sulfate, 45.0-110.0 g/L sulfuric acid, 0.5g/L zinc powder, 1.0-2.0 g/L active carbon and proper amount of brightening additive into water. A second electrolyte solution 251, the solute of which is preferably composed of anions other than the plating metal ions in the electrolyte solution, such as Na₂SO₄Or K₂SO₄So that the second electrolyte solution moves along with the surface of the battery into the electrolyte solution tank without causing unnecessary influence. The plating rate is controlled by applying a bias voltage from an external bias power supply 280 during the plating process. After the plating of the lower surface of the substrate 210 to be plated is completed, the other surface of the substrate 210 to be plated can be plated by turning over the substrate.

Specific example 3

As shown in FIG. 3, the utility model discloses a horizontal electroplating device without an upper electrode. Fig. 3(a) is a schematic diagram of the general structure of the present invention, in the process of electroplating the lower surface of the substrate 310 to be electroplated, the lower surface of the substrate 310 to be electroplated contacts with the rollers 320, and a plurality of sets of rollers 320 are disposed below each substrate 310 to be electroplated. In this embodiment, the roller 320 serves as both a horizontal transport device and a cathode conductive device. An electrolyte solution tank 330 containing an electrolyte solution 331 is also provided below the substrate 310 to be plated. The metal anode 340 is immersed in the electrolyte solution 331. The roller 220 and the metal anode 240 are connected to the negative electrode and the positive electrode of the external bias power source 280, respectively.

Fig. 3(b) is a schematic view of the broken-line frame part in fig. 3(a) being separated. In this embodiment, the substrate 310 to be electroplated is a discontinuous main gate heterojunction solar cell. For convenience of illustration, in this figure, the substrate to be plated 210 is shown as being translucent. The lower surface thereof is coated with resin as a non-conductive material 311 by printing, screen printing, slit coating, spin coating, spray coating, etc., and openings are directly left on the

regions

312 and 313 to be plated of the substrate 310 to be plated (on the lower surface of the substrate 310 to be plated) during coating. In this embodiment, the regions to be plated 312 and 313 are divided into a main gate region 313 and a sub-gate region 312 with staggered longitudinal and transverse directions. The main grid region 313 is a plurality of discontinuous strip-shaped regions which are distributed on the battery piece in parallel and have the width of 200 and 1500 microns, and main grid line electrodes are formed after electroplating; the sub-grid regions 312 are a plurality of continuous strip-shaped regions which are perpendicular to the main grid region, are distributed on the battery piece in parallel and have the width of 10-1000 micrometers, and form sub-grid line electrodes after electroplating. The roller 320 is provided with a plurality of protrusions 321 such that each protrusion 321 is aligned with and in direct electrical contact with a primary grid region 313 on the substrate 310 to be electroplated. A plurality of sets of rollers (cathode conductive means) and a plurality of electrolyte solution tanks 330 are provided under each substrate 310 to be plated, and ensure that the electrolyte solution 331 in each electrolyte solution tank 330 is always electrically connected to at least one set of rollers (cathode conductive means) 320 through the main grid region 313 of the substrate 310 to be plated during the horizontal movement of the substrate 310 to be plated. Therefore, the device can adapt to the design of discontinuous main grid lines, the uniformity of electroplated grid lines can be greatly improved, and the stability of mass production of products is improved. During the electroplating process, the substrate 310 to be electroplated is horizontally moved along the extending direction of the main grid region 313 by the roller 320.

In this embodiment, the metallic silver is plated on the lower surface of the substrate 310 to be plated in the

regions

312 and 313 to be plated. The metal anode 340 is solid metallic copper and the electrolyte solution 331 may contain one or more acid groups (e.g., sulfate, nitrate, etc.), plating metal ions (here, silver ions), water, and one or more additives.

Specific example 4

As shown in FIG. 4, the utility model discloses a horizontal electroplating device without an upper electrode. Fig. 4(a) is a general structural diagram of the present invention, in the process of electroplating the lower surface of the substrate 410 to be electroplated, the lower surface of the substrate 410 to be electroplated is in contact with the cathode conductive device 420, and a plurality of sets of cathode conductive devices 420 are disposed below each substrate 410 to be electroplated. In this embodiment, the cathode conducting means 420 is a conducting brush. In order to prevent the surface of the substrate 410 to be plated from being damaged, the end of the conductive brush contacting the substrate 410 to be plated is polished or is a U-shaped end, and the conductive brush is made of conductive materials with certain flexibility or elasticity, such as conductive carbon fibers, metal fibers, polymer fibers, graphite, elastic conductive probes, and the like. In other embodiments, the cathode conductive device may also be a conductive brush roller, the conductive brush roller is made of a conductive brush material similar to the conductive brush roller and rotates synchronously with the horizontal transmission device during the electroplating process. The horizontal transfer device 460 is a conveyor belt. An electrolyte solution tank 430 containing an electrolyte solution 431 is also provided below the substrate 410 to be plated. The metal anode 440 is immersed in the electrolyte solution 431. The cathode conducting device 420 and the metal anode 440 are respectively connected to the negative electrode and the positive electrode of the external bias power source 280.

Fig. 4(b) is a schematic view of the broken-line frame part in fig. 4(a) being separated. In this embodiment, the substrate 410 to be electroplated is a conventional main gate solar cell. For ease of illustration, in this figure, the substrate 410 to be plated is shown as translucent. The lower surface of which is provided with a non-conductive material 411, and openings are left in

areas

412 and 413 to be plated of the substrate 410 to be plated (on the lower surface of the substrate 410 to be plated). Before the non-conductive material 411 is provided, a transparent conductive layer (not shown in the diagram) is further provided as a conductive material on the lower surface of the substrate 410 to be plated by PVD, RPD, or the like. The regions to be plated 412 and 413 are divided into a main gate region 413 and a sub-gate region 412 which are staggered in length and width. During the electroplating process, the substrate 410 to be electroplated is horizontally moved along the extending direction of the main gate region 413 by the horizontal transfer device 420. In this embodiment, the conductive brush of the cathode conductive device 420 is disposed only under the region to be plated (in this embodiment, the bus bar region 413) on the substrate 410 to be plated extending in parallel with the horizontal moving direction of the substrate 410 to be plated, and the conductive brush is brought into direct electrical contact with the transparent conductive layer in the region to be plated.

The above description is only a preferred embodiment of the present invention, and it should be noted that: for those skilled in the art, without departing from the principle of the present invention, several improvements and modifications can be made, and these improvements and modifications should also be considered as the protection scope of the present invention.

Claims

1. The utility model provides a do not have horizontal electroplating device of top electrode which characterized in that: comprises a plurality of electrolyte solution tanks which are arranged at the same height, electrolyte solution is contained in the electrolyte solution tanks, a liquid conveying pipeline is communicated with the lower part of the electrolyte solution tank, a liquid discharging tank is arranged below the electrolyte solution tank, a substrate to be electroplated is positioned on the upper surface of the electrolyte solution tank and the lower surface of the substrate to be electroplated is contacted with the electrolyte solution, the lower surface of the substrate to be electroplated is divided into an area to be electroplated and an area not to be electroplated, the surface of the area to be electroplated is made of conductive material, the surface of the non-electroplating area is made of non-conductive material, the lower surface of the substrate to be electroplated is electrically connected with a horizontal transmission device and a cathode conductive device, the horizontal transmission device and the cathode conducting device are arranged at intervals with the electrolyte solution tank, the horizontal transmission device drives the substrate to be electroplated to move horizontally, and a metal anode is arranged in the electrolyte solution, and the cathode conducting device and the metal anode are respectively connected with the cathode and the anode of an external bias power supply.

2. The horizontal electroplating device without the upper electrode as claimed in claim 1, wherein: the roller is simultaneously used as the horizontal transmission device and the cathode conducting device, and the roller is electrically contacted with the area to be electroplated through the electrolyte solution carried out by the substrate to be electroplated when passing through the electrolyte solution tank.

3. The horizontal electroplating device without the upper electrode as claimed in claim 1, wherein: the roller is simultaneously used as the horizontal transmission device and the cathode conducting device, and a second electrolyte solution tank is arranged below the roller, so that the roller takes out the second electrolyte solution in the second electrolyte solution tank when rolling and is electrically contacted with the area to be electroplated through the second electrolyte solution.

4. The upper electrode-free horizontal plating apparatus according to claim 2 or 3, wherein: the roller is provided with a plurality of bulges, and the bulges are electrically contacted with the area to be electroplated.

5. The horizontal electroplating device without the upper electrode as claimed in claim 1, wherein: the horizontal transmission device is a conveyor belt.

6. The horizontal electroplating device without the upper electrode as claimed in claim 1, wherein: the cathode conducting device is a conducting brush or a conducting hair roller.

7. The horizontal electroplating device without the upper electrode as claimed in claim 6, wherein: the tail end of the conductive brush, which is contacted with the substrate to be electroplated, is polished or is a U-shaped tail end.

8. The horizontal electroplating device without the upper electrode as claimed in claim 1, wherein: and a spraying device is arranged above the substrate to be electroplated and sprays water to the upper surface of the substrate to be electroplated so as to adjust the contact pressure of the substrate to be electroplated and the cathode conducting device.